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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,640 |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
Some weird guy at a weekend flea market had a bag of lower-grade ancient coins that he was selling for slightly under a dollar each. Most of the bag was Pantikapaion AEs, which I could hardly care less about, but I did find a few coins that I did want to buy... This is the second of those. The pentagram looks vaguely familiar, but searches on Numista, Zeno, and CCF didn't find anything sufficiently similar (aside from one confusing possible match on Zeno). I vaguely recall that I've seen something similar on Golden Horde coins, but don't recall where or how exactly.   Again, if that helps: 19x18 mm, 1.25 grams. Also, sorry for the terrible photo quality. I might try making non-overbrightened photos later. Edited by january1may
06/17/2018 2:25 pm
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Moderator
 United States
34425 Posts |
For me, I think of Morocco when I see coins with the Star of David/Seal of Solomon on them. Could it be a falus?
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
 Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
Quote:
For me, I think of Morocco when I see coins with the Star of David/Seal of Solomon on them. Could it be a falus? Um, the Star of David is not a pentagram, while this one almost certainly is. (I admit that it's somewhat clearer in hand.) I otherwise agree with you, however. |
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Moderator
United States
34425 Posts |
Ok sure, from the pic it isn't entirely clear to me whether the star has five or six points, but you are right that I'm thinking about the latter not the former.  "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
Can't pin it down, but I've seen Umayyad coins that look similar.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1554 Posts |
The other coins in the same bag are probably your best clue. Islamic copper coins, generally speaking, do not travel far from where they are made. I would look at dynasties in the region of the Crimea. Golden Horde, Giray, perhaps even Ottoman. I think you are on the right track.
n.b.:
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
By sheer coincidence, while looking for a completely different coin (which I should probably post soon), I encountered Zeno 18681, which is very clearly the same type as this. The respective category shows about a dozen other similar examples. Being unable to read Arabic, I cannot make any sense of the obverse squiggles (2nd pic); they do not appear to correspond to the Arabic legend given in Zeno. Wild and probably implausible guess: could it be a different mint? (Realistically, it's probably just a bad strike and/or a bad picture. I really should find the coin again and take another photo; alas, I have no idea where I put it.) [EDIT: on second look, Zeno 192765 looks similar enough.] In any case, while the type is apparently attested with dates other than 734 AH (1333/4 AD), this particular coin does appear to be 734 (like most of the Zeno examples) - the upper part of the 4 is just visible at 7 o'clock on reverse (1st pic). The other two digits are off flan. I look forward to posting it on How Far Back Can We Go if this date ever somehow shows up. We'd have to get through the 15th century first, though  [EDIT: removed mistaken reference to Batu Khan, who was a century too early anyway.] Edited by january1may
06/03/2019 9:41 pm
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Pillar of the Community
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1554 Posts |
I think you've nailed it: Muhammad Uzbek, 1312-1341, AE pul, Bulghar, AH [7]3x, Album 2024. Zeno 18681 and 192765 are in fact identical. The inscription in the lobated square is puli Bulghar "copper coin [of] Bulghar". At the center of the pentagram is the tamgha. Between two arms of the pentagram we can see the heart-shaped arabesque and what is likely a partial numeral "3" directly opposite.
Edited by Kushanshah
06/04/2019 04:57 am
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
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and what is likely a partial numeral "3" directly opposite Looking at the Zeno pictures, I'd rather expect this to be a partial numeral "4" (Z-shaped squiggle) rather than a "3" (which would have had more of a W shape), which would presumably make the date AH [73]4, but I'd probably have to see the coin again to be certain of this. |
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Pillar of the Community
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1554 Posts |
Yes, that's possible. There are examples on Zeno with the date legend reading both clockwise and anti-clockwise. If it reads clockwise, it would be the decade. If it reads anti-clockwise, it's the digit.
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Posted 06/17/2018 5:24 pm
